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Winter Storm Wanda Wrecks Havoc and Utilities in the Midwest

It technically is spring, but you wouldn’t know it if you would look around the upper-midwest. Earlier this week, parts of Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, and other midwestern states got hit hard with an onslaught of heavy precipitation.

There was a lot of damages to aerial power lines due to large branches falling. Days of icy rain came down during freezing temperatures meant that a lot of the power lines on utility poles were weighted down. You could visibly see inches of ice and snow building up on the power lines as well branches about to break under the extra weight.

For much of southeastern South Dakota, there was a considerable amount of this icy/snow build up. Because of the branches breaking and damaging the power lines below them much of the city of Sioux Falls and surrounding areas in eastern South Dakota were without power for significant portions of time. At one time, up to 40,000 people in southeastern South Dakota were without power due to the storm.

Smaller communities were especially hit hard due to the fact that a higher percentage are without power for extended amounts of time. It is also much more difficult to have access to areas of power when you are in more remote areas.

Excel Energy crews worked hard all week to restore power to effected communities while city crews were tasked with removing fallen branches from the roads. The estimated damages are in the hundreds of thousands. Despite all the damages, people are pretty optimistic. Farmers are happy for the extra snow fall due to fact that it will help when they go to plant this spring. Much of the area was hit with drought last year – which effected many farmers. If you live in the upper-midwest and were effected by the Winter Storm Wanda you are happy to have your power back so you can get back to normal living. And most are also looking forward to spring – a spring without snow that is.

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